duration() ignores decimal elements when parsing

[jspncr]

> duration("1.5 hours")  
[1] "3600s (~1 hours)"

[cderv]

I think it is a duplicate and fixed by #465.
Have you tried last dev version?

[jspncr]

Yes, you are correct. Sorry, I should have checked the dev version first.

[cderv]

No problem. You will next time :)
Can you close the issue as it is ok and already corrected ?

[jspncr]

Wait, i'm an idiot. I tested duration(1.5, "hours"), not duration("1.5 hours")

The issue remains.

> duration("1.5 hours")
[1] "3600s (~1 hours)"
> duration(1.5, "hours")
[1] "5400s (~1.5 hours)"

(lubridate_1.6.0.9009)

[cderv]

OK I see. duration takes two arguments num et units default to "seconds". num can take numeric or character, but it seems that when character, it do not handle decimal duration.

library(lubridate)
#> 
#> Attachement du package : 'lubridate'
#> The following object is masked from 'package:base':
#> 
#>     date
duration("1.5 hours")
#> [1] "3600s (~1 hours)"
duration("1 hour 30 min")
#> [1] "5400s (~1.5 hours)"
duration(1.5,  "hours")
#> [1] "5400s (~1.5 hours)"

behind the scene when num is character, it calls lubridate:::parse_period that do not handle decimal;

lubridate:::parse_period("1.5 hours")
#> [1] "1H 0M 0S"

that is converted to duration and returns "3600s (~1 hours)".

So,

• either parse_period is supposed to handle decimal in the character parsing and it should be corrected, tested and documented
• or it is not intended and it should at least be documented.

Not my decision, we should wait for @vspinu advice.

[vspinu]

It's a limitation of the unit parsing mechanism. Fractional units are not recognized yet. It will be fixed on the before the next release.